Prices are rising at an annual rate of 13.4 per cent, the federal minimum wage will rise to $3.10 in January, there has been no increase in productivity and some analysts even expect it to decline, the Social Security tax will rise by $4.5 billion in 1980, the federal deficit this year will approach $40 billion, the GNP declined by some 2 per cent in the second quarter, the average worker’s real purchasing power declined 3.3 per cent in the last 12 months, retail sales are 4 per cent below the December quarter, residential construction is down, the dollar has dropped 2 per cent in international exchange in recent weeks. Oh yes, and Idi Amin is in Washington, running the economy.
“Energy from the sun is clean and safe. It does not pollute our air, nor our water. It does not hold the risk of an accident, which may threaten the health or life of citizens. There are no toxic wastes to dispose of.” (Background report by the White House Press Office on solar energy, June 6, 1979.) A bet—15 years hence, the Village Voice will run five scare headlines, and The New Yorker will print thirty thousand words to demonstrate that solar collectors cause baldness and impotence. Side bet—three years thereafter, the leading Democratic politician will echo these sentiments.
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